"Samsung's new Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is smaller, lighter and cheaper than the iPad. So at least it's not automatically doomed.

This WiFi-connected Android tablet, which arrives Sunday for $249.99, also includes an ingredient absent from Apple's recipe: a universal-remote app and an infrared transmitter to control TVs and other audio or video devices.

Unlike Amazon's $50-cheaper Kindle Fire and its cut-down version of Android, the .74-lb. Tab 2 runs a full and up-to-date release, the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich edition of Google's operating system. (A larger model with a 10.1-in. screen is due May 13 for $399.99) Lest including current software seem unremarkable, consider that six months after Google began showing off "ICS," this is only the second device I've reviewed to ship with it.

On the Tab 2 7.0, ICS didn't exhibit the crashes that I saw on a tablet running its predecessor, Honeycomb. But the selection of tablet-optimized Android apps remains weak, with the number of programs using the extra screen real estate intelligently (for instance, Evernote and Gmail) dwarfed by those that, like Foursquare and Twitter, simply scale up a phone-oriented interface. "

"I've been testing Samsung's new 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 tablet (my full review is at TabTimes) and, in some ways, I like it better than the iPad. Sure, the newest iPad's Retina screen (ironically, made by Samsung) is more dazzling and the iPad has a faster processor, a bigger screen and Apple's famed ease of use, but the new Samsung has its advantages too, beginning with a much smaller price tag. At $250, it's half the price of Apple's third generation iPad and $150 less than the iPad 2.

It's also smaller and lighter. The Tab 2 measures 7.6 x 4.8 x .42 inches and weighs 12.2 ounces. The new iPad, of course, is longer and wider and weighs 1.44 pounds though, at .37 inches, it is thinner than the Tab 2.

If the Apple rumors are true ...

Steve Jobs famously once said that "7-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad," but if the rumor mill has it right, Apple might finally release its own 7-inch iPad later this year. It would be a smart move. Even though Apple is doing fine with its current form factor I suspect it could grow the market even further with a smaller, cheaper and lighter iPad. "